Shilpi Cable Technologies to foray into lighting segment

Shilpi Cable Technologies which manufactures cables for telecom, auto and consumer durable segments is entering lighting market.NEW DELHI: Shilpi Cable Technologies which manufactures cables for telecom, auto and consumer durable segments is entering lighting market as part of its plans to raise sales to $1 billion by 2020.

The city-based company would enter LED lighting vertical in the next quarter under the brand 'Safe'.

The company is in the process of building sales network in business-to-consumer segment.

"We are promoting Safe as a retail brand. Under this brand we have already introduced wires, switches and MCB and now we are entering LED light segment," Shilpi Cable Technologies (SCTL) Chief Financial Office Ajay Mahajan told PTI.

"We endeavour to be a billion dollar company (around Rs 6,370 crore) by 2020. For this along with B2B business in which we are present, we have also started servicing B2C segment by manufacturing wires and cables which can be used in local household business, thereby expanding our customer base," said SCTL Managing Director Manish Goel said.

In FY2014-15, SCTL had a revenue of Rs 1,407.68 crore and it is having a year-on-year growth of around 40 per cent.

At present, SCTL's 26 per cent revenue come from telecom segment, 21 per cent automotive, 12 per cent from the consumer durables/assemblies, 7 per cent from energy cables and rest 34 per cent from copper wire conductor business.

When asked why the company decided to enter the lighting segment, Mahajan said it was already making wire and other related products for various brands.

"We thought that apart from making for others, we should also enter the segment and launched our brand 'Safe' for switchgears, wires, modular switches. Now the company has decided to enter into the lighting segment with a full range," he said.

The company would initially outsource the switchgears, modular switches and LED lights.

"However, once we are are established in this segment, we would look for inorganic growth also apart from organic growth," said Goel.

Last fiscal, the company has generated a revenue of Rs 50 crore from retail sales and is expecting it to grow up further as more products are being added under the brand.

It is present in nine states through 250 distributors and 1,200 retailers.

Apart from expansion in domestic market, the company is also exploring other geographies.

"We have already started operations in Singapore and Hong Kong and now we are starting at South Africa. We have also going to UK market," Goel said.